Butale on record
Sharon Mathala - Mompati Tlhankane | Monday October 10, 2022 06:00
Last year Butale was embroiled in a scandalous controversy when it emerged that he may have sexually abused a young female party colleague.
Soon after the allegations of sexual misconduct were levelled against him, he was suspended from the presidency of the BPF.
Butale was a respected pastor in his church and the founding leader of a party which was formed on the eve of the 2019 General Election and did relatively well. He has been no ordinary politician and his journey since his Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) days has always been a complex one.
‘I was never charged for sexual assault’
Before the interview could start, Butale cleared misconception that he was suspended because of sexual abuse claims laid against him.
He admits there was an allegation but defends that there was never a complaint, either to the Police or to the party officially. He told Mmegi that his ordeal was a honey trap that his detractors in the end failed to prove.Butale maintains that he was never suspended for the claims, but rather on a charge of bringing the party into disrepute because he was alleged to have asked some members of the BPF to leave the party.
“The person who wrote the complaint was the chairperson of the central region, Teko Thokweng. I was supposed to be given a hearing regarding that charge, but the hearing never took place. Apparently, I asked members to leave the party. The charge was false, I had never done it but some people in the party started a narration that I was being charged for sexual assault,” he revealed.
Butale further emphasised that there was never a complaint to the party regarding the sexual assault charge. “There was a voice note circulating yes, but nobody ever complained to the party. The first time we heard of that charge was last week in the media. The reason the hearing never materialised was because the people who were supposed to be witnesses turned and said this entire thing was false,” he added. Butale says he never asked anyone to leave.
‘I only gave her a tight hug,I didn’t fondle her’
Turning to what happened on the day which would turn out to be one of his worst days, Butale shares his side of the story. He explains what really happened between him and his 24-year-old alleged victim who was a student activist and student representative council presidential candidate at BUAN, an agricultural university.
Butale explained the nature of their relationship as having been ‘comrades’ and the few times they met prior to the incident were purely on account of BPF matters.“She called me on April 3, 2021 at around 6pm, two hours before the 8pm curfew. She told me that she was at my house and I told her that I was not around.
I asked her to ring the bell because my son was in the house.
She told me she had done that but no one was answering, but eventually I arrived at home at around 6:45pm. When I got there she told me she had come to brief me and she did for about 10 minutes. At around 7pm my brother called and told me he was on his way to pick up my son for a sleepover at his house. My wife was in Francistown with four of my other children. So, after my brother picked up my son I was left alone with her, just the two of us,” he recalled.
Butale further maintains that nothing happened. “I didn’t kiss her, I didn’t fondle her, the only thing that I did was to hug her tightly. I believe she will say it one day, she has to say it, she will tell the truth, maybe today it is convenient for her to keep quit. She never complained about me hugging her tight right thereafter,” he said.
Butale added the alleged victim started complaining on April 27, more than three weeks later. He said he was shocked because both of them had normal conversations afterwards and she never seemed like someone who was traumatised by their interaction.
“She says somebody called Nametso convinced her to accuse me of sexually assaulting her. Lawrence Ookeditse is the one who convinced her to record our conversation which was leaked to the public,” Butale told Mmegi.
‘I suspected Khama was behind the recording’
For a long time during the period of his suspension, Butale was reported to have fallen out with the BPF patron Ian Khama and BPF secretary-general Tshekedi Khama who are both on exile in South Africa. Butale who didn’t say much publicly during the suspension revealed that he thought former president Khama was the mastermind behind his downfall and the recording which was leaked to the public.
“Whoever recorded my conversation with her decided to add Khama’s voice at the end to make it seem like he was the one recording it. I was so convinced that Khama was the one behind the recording at the time. But what really surprised me is that Khama approached me and asked to discuss this issue. I thought to myself, why would this man record a damaging conversation only to relax and ask for a sit down with me? I wondered if he wasn’t aware of the damage he had done to me. But as it turned out he was just genuine,” says Butale.
Butale added that he suspected Khama all this time during the period of his suspension but only realised this year that the former statesman was not behind all this. He also disclosed that all this time Khama kept sending him WhatsApp messages and even went to the extent of sending people to talk to him.
“The Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) agents came to me with different voice notes and that was when I realised that it was not Khama. Two of their agents told me it was not Khama who recorded me. They didn’t want to just bluntly say DIS was behind the entire thing,” Butale added.
The BPF leader said the scandal was huge in his life because he is a pastor and at the church it questioned his suitability and right standing to be a pastor. “I believe that my Christian beliefs supersede my participation as a politician. I can’t forego my Christian beliefs, that is basically who I am but when it comes to politics I can forego.”
‘I am not Khama’s pawn’
Since he appeared as the BPF president in 2019, Butale was seen as a temporary figure that was meant to make way for either the younger Khama or Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi who at the time was linked to the then infant BPF.
Now that he has returned, there are also reports that he is being used by Khama to eliminate Master Goya’s competition being Samson Moyo Guma who has since been suspended.
“If people say Khama is using me then they could say he was using me when I was still at the BDP. People forget how I became part of the BPF. I was expelled from the BDP. Khama is not a defacto president, he doesn’t call the shots.
He is perhaps our most influential member. The national congress took a decision that the patron should sit and participate in the NEC, that is why he was part of that October 3, 2022 NEC meeting,” Butale highlighted.
Butale said he is disappointed by people who say he is a spineless worm. “I am capable of making my own decisions in my capacity as president. I can say no to the Khamas because at the BPF we are a democratic organisation.”
‘I believe in opposition cooperation’With the NEC deciding to join the opposition coalition, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) during Butale’s absence, nothing has changed because the latter endorses the decision. “What was decided is that the issue of whether the BPF should join the UDC or not will be taken to the congress and the latter will make a final decision,” Butale indicated.Personally Butale said he believes in opposition cooperation, because if they don’t cooperate with other political parties they might as well just forget about state power in 2024. “We will reconstitute the negotiating team as soon as we complete that process and we will inform our partners that this is our new negotiating team.”
BCP, UDC feud
As his party enters the coalition during a tough time in opposition politics as the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) gears up for an impending exit, Butale said the UDC/ BCP feud makes the task of regime change difficult.
“If we could heal that rift, then 2024 will be a walk in the park,” he says.
With the BCP on its way out, it is said that the sudden appearance of the BPF was a strategic move to replace the BCP with the BPF, almost the same as what happened in 2018 when UDC founding member Botswana Movement for Democracy was expelled from the coalition.
“In terms of the assertions that we are going to replace the BCP in case it leaves the UDC I don’t think we are a replacement. We need each other, all of us. I haven’t given up on working together with the BCP as part of the UDC,” Butale pointed out.
When the BCP finalises its exit from the UDC, the vice presidency seat will be available but Butale specified that as the BPF they are not gunning for the UDC presidency nor vice presidency, but they want opposition cooperation and it is the number one objective. “We want all opposition parties to approach the upcoming elections as a unit,” he underlined.
‘I am in charge’
Butale’s reappearance as the president was not welcomed by some especially in the Guma camp and letters have been flying around causing confusion amongst the party members who did not know who was in charge of the BPF. “Those who are confused about who is in charge at the BPF should believe the person who has the backing of the structures, MPs, councillors, regions and committees. They should not listen to anybody who has been suspended. It’s a free country, they can choose to believe that I am not the president but the reality is that I am the president of the BPF,” he concluded.